Apple (NYSE: AAPL) teased many key product announcements for this week, including the staggered launch of Apple Intelligence, its flagship suite of AI features which will power the latest iPhone 16. However, Amazon has stolen some spotlight from the company by leaking the specifications of Mac Mini ahead of the official announcement.

Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of marketing, teased an “exciting week of announcement” beginning Monday. The company did not disappoint fans and unveiled the latest iMac which featured an M4 chip along with a wide array of color options. It also released the first set of long-awaited Apple Intelligence features.

When Apple started selling its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered iPhone 16 last month, it hadn’t finished working on Apple Intelligence. This was a strange launch for the company as it failed to differentiate the iPhone 16 from previous models. The upcoming AI features seem to be the main selling point of the phone so initial sales are likely slow. However, now that the features are finally coming, sales may start to speed up.

Amazon Leaked Specifications of Mac Mini

To be sure, Apple was expected to launch an updated Mac Mini with M4 and M4 Pro chip options. However, Amazon has stolen some thunder from Apple’s flurry of announcements by leaking the specifications of the Mac Mini. While the ecommerce giant might have listed the details ahead of time and quickly deleted them, MacRumors got some screenshots in the meantime.

As was widely expected, the product will come with M4 and M4 Pro chip options. However, like the current model, it will be only available in silver color.

It would have up to 20-core GPU and up to a 14-core CPU, making it tremendously powerful for its size. It can be configured to have up to 64GB of RAM which is twice what the current version offers. The model also looks smaller as compared to the current model, making the specs even more impressive. It has two new front-facing USB-C ports as well. It remains unclear whether these ports will support Thunderbolt 4 but they are nice additions either way.

When will Apple Release the Latest Mac Mini?

Apple is expected to officially announce the Mac Mini sometime this week. We however don’t have the exact timeline of when it will be available in stores. That said, since Amazon went ahead with the listing, we can be sure that the product will soon be in stores as well as on online platforms.

Apple Intelligence’s Initial Features Are Not That Exciting

Meanwhile, the initial rollout of the first Apple Intelligence features hasn’t really been as significant as markets were expecting. While it comes with incremental features like photo-editing options and email summaries, they might not be enough to enthuse fans to upgrade. This is still only the beginning of the rollout but the initial response doesn’t bode well for the rest of the project.

Putting this all together, it seems like Apple rushed to put out a flagship “AI-powered” device as fast as possible. Notably, Apple stock was underperforming the markets before it announced the launch of AI features at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). At this point, all of the top competition were focusing on AI but Apple showed little interest until the conference. The stock has since risen to reclaim its title as the world’s biggest company amid optimism about new products and Apple intelligence but the early rollout isn’t a great sign.

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Unsurprisingly, a lot is riding on the iPhone 16 for Apple. Smartphones are the biggest revenue driver for Apple, bringing in $39.30 billion in the most recent quarter. iPhones accounted for over 45% of Apple’s total revenues. They also build the company’s profitability flywheel by expanding the installed device base which then drives the revenues of Apple’s Services business – its most profitable business segment.

Analysts Are Turning Cautious on AAPL Stock

Apple sees its Apple Intelligence as a key differentiator that will help the company spur iPhone sales that have sagged in recent quarters. During the WWDC, AAPL CEO Tim Cook said, “We think Apple Intelligence is going to be indispensable to the products that already play such an integral role in our lives.”

Apple is set to release its fiscal Q4 2024 earnings on Thursday where the company would talk about iPhone 16 sales numbers. However, Wall Street analysts are mixed at best about the outlook.

Last week, Evercore ISI downgraded AAPL stock to an “underweight” as the brokerage is concerned about iPhone 16 sales. Morgan Stanley, which is otherwise bullish on Apple also sees the stock’s near-term setup as “challenging” even as it is constructive on the long-term upgrade cycle as the company launches more AI features.

Many analysts see the AI upgrade as more of an iPhone 17 story as many of the features will be released only next year. Bernstein, for instance, said, “We believe that a more muted iPhone 16 cycle (and potentially stronger iPhone 17 cycle) is increasingly embedded in expectations and that the combination of elongated replacement cycles and AI functionality should drive strong upgrades over the next two years.”